Thinkbox
Key Points
The cost-of-living crisis was putting extra strain on the RSCPA with increased levels of animal abandonments. They had also seen the decline in regular giving donors. The first half of 2022 saw 62% fewer regular givers recruited.
RSPCA leaned into the advanced capabilities of modern TV to target a younger demographic outside of the traditional heart land of DRTV, daytime.
Delivered 6,195 new regular donors, up 32% year-on-year with 77% of new donors signing up being brand new to RSPCA. Future proofed their income with 45% of new donors still forecast to be donating in 5 years’ time.
The Challenge
The RSPCA handle around 1 million calls each year, leading to investigations of 57,000 reports of animal cruelty. The growing cost of living crisis that started in 2022 has seen a sharp rise in animal abandonments at 24% and 7 out of 10 pet owners are concerned about how they’ll be able to feed their pets. This meant that the RSPCA would likely be working overtime in their rescue and rehoming service; services made possible thanks to an army of Regular Givers who sign up for a long-term commitment via direct debit largely sourced through DRTV activity.
While DR activity had been successful in the past, the first half of 2022 saw 62% fewer regular givers recruited vs the same period in 2021. The cost-of-living crisis was starting to pinch consumers. With Christmas on the horizon and high expectations off the back of a successful ‘Join the Christmas Rescue’ appeal of the past 2 years, it was going to be difficult to deliver the required growth. Along with this, RSPCA were facing low share of voice due to the crowded nature of the market at Christmas in 2022 with regular spends pushed back thanks to arrival of a winter World Cup.
RSPCA had a clear set of objectives that would hopefully arrest the decline in Regular Giver sign-ups. They wanted to recruit the highest volume of new donors who drive the strongest long-term value while maintaining an effective ROI for their media activity. They meant delivering over 6,000 regular givers with 70% of them coming from new supporters rather than existing audiences.
The TV Solution
RSCPA’s fundraising activity had largely been based on DRTV activity with a focus on daytime across all stations. With the onset of the cost-of-living crisis hitting the typically older audiences harder than previous downturns, a new approach needed to be sort.
JAA armed with a clear set of objectives set about understanding who this new audience would be. Using RSPCA’s existing customer base and overlayed with MOSAIC audience segments saw 4 new audiences pinpointed who were less likely to be impacted by the cost-of-living crisis and Christmas and the most likely to donate the highest average gifts.
Video was selected as the most emotionally engaging media, therefore most likely to drive a response. Linear and BVOD were selected as they gave the greatest awareness while also being brand safe and driving the highest attention levels.
The Plan
The campaign launched on 1st November and ran until 31st December. This ensured that they had a presence in the lead up to Christmas but also after when viewing is higher, and audiences are easier to reach in the run up to new year.
Sky Media was selected as the lead channel as their huge data capabilities could be leveraged to ensure that the campaign delivered the best value. Leveraging AdSmart to target the specific MOSIAC audiences in addition to the use of regional targeting, meant the RSPCA were able to target their key regions. AdSmart also allowed the RSPCA to serve their copy into live linear, which with the World Cup disrupting viewing habits was key to ensure target audiences were hit at the right moments. Adding in BVOD, JAA were able to leverage the same MOSAIC targeting to capture those all-important lighter TV viewers watching their favourite Sky shows outside of a linear environment. Using Sky One Addressable combined the two campaigns into one based on a split of 90% AdSmart and 10% Sky Go, which helped JAA and RSPCA understand the de-duplicated reach. Overall, the campaign was planned to reach 80% of defined audience of 1.375 million households at a frequency of 5.
By using One Campaign, RSPCA were able to access a selection of programming that otherwise would have been out of reach on a regular campaign. In fact, 57% of the impacts were delivered outside of the bedrock of DRTV, daytime and 27% were delivered in spots would never have been accessible due to budget and buying audience issues. The BVOD element through Sky Go also saw the campaign served in high quality environments such as The White Lotus and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Again, this would have been out of reach through a traditional DRTV campaign.
Beyond the traditional TV environments of Linear and BVOD; JAA took the campaign to the highest attention environments ensuring the campaign run exclusively on big screens across YouTube and CTV inventory. Along with this, in November 2022, RSPCA became the first charity brand to run on the newly launched Ad-funded tier on Netflix. Along with this, they ensured a path to donation with traditional DRTV campaigns and digital display across a range of high-quality environments.
Results
Overall, the Christmas activity was a rousing success in fact RSPCA were able to exceed their Regular Giving targets. The campaign grew the number of regular donors 32% year-on-year. This increased percentage of donors also helped to future proof RSPCA’s income as 57% of these regular donors would still be contributing in 3 years with and 45% still donating in 5 years’ time. This meant a highest income projection compared to the same 2021 campaign.
Finally, 77% of Regular Giving donations came from new rather than exiting supported. This showed the success of the new strategy in growing the pool of donors rather than exhausting the existing audience of contributors.
JAA were instrumental in pushing us to trail a whole new strategy for our Christmas appeal. A challenging market meant we had to overhaul our usual way of doing things, making us go after new audiences while running on new channel. This meant trailing Netflix as the first charity on their ad funded platform and moving in the Connected TV. Both of which were significant changes for a brand like outs that has historically relied on DRTV.
Tracey PritchardDirector of Engagement & Income Generation, RSPCA
Databank
Sector: Charities
Brand: Royal Society for the Protection of Animals
Campaign objectives: Sign ups and donations
Target Audience: ABC1adults
Budget: Undisclosed
Campaign Dates: November- December 2022
TV Usage: Linear
Creative Agency: Space City Productions
Media Agency: JAA Media